Mr. Speaker, the first thing I would like to do, as one of my other colleagues has done, is wish everyone a great 2005. This is the first order of business of Parliament in the new year, and it is an appropriate piece of business. Bill C-259 is obviously the most important thing we could be talking about today.
This is a non-partisan bill. A lot of people have entered this debate over the last couple of months, as this is the second hour of debate on the bill. I appreciate the support that I received today from the Bloc member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, my colleague from Blackstrap, the member for Mississauga South and the member for Winnipeg North.
What is crucial also is to recognize that we have had support from members of all parties in the House of Commons. There have been some off the record discussions as well. For example, I know the member sitting in the chair, the member for Hull—Aylmer, had some very strong opinions on the bill. In his riding he has seen jobs lost in the jewellery manufacturing business as a consequence of this tax. It is a job-killing tax. We also had very strong support during the first hour of debate from the Liberal member of Parliament for Ahuntsic. The bill has been well received in the House.
As many have pointed out, this has been a long-standing issue at the finance committee. It has also been an issue that I have had on the order paper for a number of years as a private member's bill.
Over the last several Parliaments we have managed to strengthen the provisions of private members' business. It is not strictly due to the fact we are in a minority Parliament. It is due to the fact that political parties and individual members have worked hard and exploited opportunities to make changes to private members' business to make it more meaningful. It is now a whole new era. Private members' business is meaningful and significant. A whole range of people, including lobbyists, are having to pay attention to what members of Parliament can bring to the table. Significant things can be brought to the table and the government can no longer stifle them, or put them on the back burner or get rid of them in other creative ways.
The member for Mississauga South said that if we were to end a tax, there must be some benefits. There are some major benefits to ending the tax.
Another way to look at the tax is that we are imposing a tariff on ourselves to ensure that goods made in Canada cost more than goods we import. Nobody would do that, yet we have. That is the net result of what we have done. We have killed jobs.
I think this is another very significant thing. Since we first started looking at this, our diamond industry, which 50% of jewellery sales in Canada include a diamond component, five years ago was basically non-existent. Today, it provides $500 million a year in federal revenues.
The industry needs to have this tax eliminated. We have all kinds of support from the Mining Association of Canada, the Canadian Jewellers Association, the provinces and territories.
I went to a B.C. & Yukon Chamber of Mines meeting in Vancouver last week, and there was great excitement. We need to get rid of this tax. I met a gentleman in Vancouver who has 71 robots cutting and polishing diamonds 24/7. For that business to continue to prosper with Canadian diamonds, this tax needs to be eliminated.
I encourage everyone to support the bill, get it to committee and bring it back to the House for final report stage as soon as possible.